The United States Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) auction of the 700 MHz spectrum has resulted in the shift of the applicable standard for television broadcast from National Television System Committee (NTSC) to digital broadcast and has placed significant efforts toward new products to fit the needs of the new license holders. Much of the newly formed 700 MHz band will be used for mobile data casting which will require a high volume, rapid deployment of broadcast equipment. It is understood that broadband solutions will include both horizontally polarized and vertically polarized panel antennas. However, there currently are no broadband vertically polarized panel antenna systems that allow for simple construction, lower cost, easy tuning and low wind load. Such simplicity and ease of tuning will be a competitive advantage for the purpose of mass production.
Therefore, there is a need in the broadcast community for systems and method which provide broadband solutions that are simply constructed, have lower costs, are relatively easy to tune and have low wind load attributes.